For the most part, 360 has the performance over PS3 but overall the PS3 is more powerful...even on the sheets.

Seeing fruits of labor vs actual power are two different things. Visual quality isn't a blanket indicator of what is or isn't possible on the hardware. Saying that the PS3 is more powerful than the 360 because U3 looks better than anything on the 360 is an extremely soft.

Seems like it depends on the developer. I wish they would make up their minds!

Exactly... people keep following up with these snippets as gospel. When in fact, none of these guys give any statements of fact and are only presenting their opinion. I've yet to see one single source tout PS3 > 360, or vice versa, as fact with anything to back it up. It's always, "I feel", "I think", etc.

The only advantage thePS3 has over the Xbox in my eyes is Blu Ray. That allows the console to have great games such at GT5 and MGS4 which I strongly believe wouldnt be the games they were if it wasn't for Blu Ray.

Originally Posted by neoxthexone

DC is the hero PSU deserves, but not the one it needs right now. So we'll ban him, because he can take it. Because he's not a hero. He's a single guardian, a watchful protector. The DC.

At this point I feel it is pointless to even compare these systems anymore. They are both running on their last leg and in a year or 2 these consoles will abandoned for their successor. This was an interesting topic 5 years ago.

But 5 years on we have the proof, lol. PS3 exclusives look great and run in generally 720P or higher or 3D.
The best looking 360 exclusives are all sub HD.

Not only does PS3 have amazing looking exclusives it has a ton of them too with more coming well into next generation.

Does that qualify whether one console is more powerful than the other? No. That's hardly PROOF of the topic. What that proves is that Sony have some really good developers under their umbrella. That is something I'd agree with 100%. However, Gears 3 shows that the 360 has plenty of power, and it rivals Uncharted 3 in every aspect.

As far as your last comment, agreed, however that doesn't have anything to do with the topic.

At this point I feel it is pointless to even compare these systems anymore. They are both running on their last leg and in a year or 2 these consoles will abandoned for their successor. This was an interesting topic 5 years ago.

It was an interesting topic 5 years ago for those that were constantly using it to trash the PS3. The quality and number of games the next couple years are going to define the final outcome of this generation, influencing the next. From all indications, the PS3 will be ending this generation with the best looking games and the most number of exclusive titles, specifically because it has the asymmetric multiprocessing multithreaded advantage along with the superior storage of Blu-ray, which is becoming an emerging issue lately and will only become more prominent over the next couple of years.

Pacing in wait of Sony's imminent DOOM!...since 2006

PS4 - The Only Hardcore Gaming Console = All Your Baserape Are Belong To Us

I don't even think that is a question really. This generation seems to be coming to a close now, and what have found is that both consoles are equally capable, and have been, are, and will be producing great looking games, neither one with a real advantage. It seems they keep producing titles on each platform that out does the other...but in the most minuscule of differences.

Just thought I would dig this out being that this old debate has been somewhat re-kindled.

Chip Architect Speaks About Xbox 360 and PS3 Creation

January 16, 2009 - Gamasutra.com secured an interview with David Shippy who was the chief architect of the power processing unit for the Cell (the engine that drives the PS3). The chip began the research and design process in 2000 when Sony asked IBM for an "order of magnitude increase in processing performance." Ironically it was that very ambition and the design that followed that would one day be the foundation for Microsoft's Xbox 360.

Shippy describes the design goals as shooting for a "supercomputer on a chip" and says "We came along with Cell and we were double the frequency of any PC out there." Then in 2003 Microsoft comes to IBM and, much like Sony, asked them to design a chip unlike anything that was currently on the market. Naturally, IBM showed The Big M their latest and greatest tech which, at that time, was the multi-core "road map" that was used to create what would eventually become the Cell. Keep in mind, that all of this original technology was originally financed by Sony and Toshiba for use in the PS3.

Shippy maintains that Microsoft never got a look at the actual Cell processor and maintains that it was IBM's right to sell the technology to other platforms, such as the Xbox 360, but also states, "The Cell itself and the fundamental architecture that went into that -- that was all proprietary for PS3."

Even still, the fact remains that Xbox 360 chip designers and PS3 chip designers were, at one time, working side-by-side with one another at IBM. Shippy details distaste that developed between the two teams, "when this whole Xbox thing came in, there were certainly a lot of guys -- even on my team -- that were fairly upset about it."

But when asked the flame war inducing question, "which console is actually more powerful?"

Shippy tells Gamasutra, "I'm going to have to answer with an 'it depends.' Again, they're completely different models. So in the PS3, you've got this Cell chip which has massive parallel processing power, the PowerPC core, multiple SPU cores… it's got a GPU that is, in the model here, processing more in the Cell chip and less in the GPU. So that's one processing paradigm -- a heterogeneous paradigm."

"With the Xbox 360, you've got more of a traditional multi-core system, and you've got three PowerPC cores, each of them having dual threads -- so you've got six threads running there, at least in the CPU. Six threads in Xbox 360, and eight or nine threads in the PS3 -- but then you've got to factor in the GPU," Shippy explains. "The GPU is highly sophisticated in the Xbox 360."

"At the end of the day, when you put them all together, depending on the software, I think they're pretty equal."

Shippy then goes on to dissect each console's flaws: for the Xbox 360 it was the initial heatsink and cooling problems and for the PS3 it's the coding issues experienced by developers. While Shippy was not directly involved in the programming of the Xbox 360's power consumption, his best guess is that Microsoft brought their system specs right up to the edge of functioning properly and melting down which Shippy describes as "playing with fire."

On the PS3's supposed programming issues Shippy says it's "definitely a new paradigm" but claims that once developers wrap their head around the nuances of the system, they can actually get impressive results for "low-level coding."

For more on the story behind the creation of the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 chipsets, check out David Shippy's book.

I think this kind discussion would have been appropriate in 2005/2006 when they were both released, because seriously I don't care about numbers at this stage of the current gen. whats important is that each gamer feels they're getting the most out of their console and enjoying the games.

But 5 years on we have the proof, lol. PS3 exclusives look great and run in generally 720P or higher or 3D.
The best looking 360 exclusives are all sub HD.

Not only does PS3 have amazing looking exclusives it has a ton of them too with more coming well into next generation.

That's all very good for the PlayStation brand (really, it is) but can you provide the evidence to back up your statements? Can you prove to me that the best-looking Xbox 360 exclusives are all sub-HD? And what are the names of the amazing PlayStation 3 exclusives that are coming well into the next generation? As far as I know, the next-generation of home consoles won't be available to consumers until 2013, and that's if they announce them at next year's E3.

That's all very good for the PlayStation brand (really, it is) but can you provide the evidence to back up your statements? Can you prove to me that the best-looking Xbox 360 exclusives are all sub-HD? And what are the names of the amazing PlayStation 3 exclusives that are coming well into the next generation? As far as I know, the next-generation of home consoles won't be available to consumers until 2013, and that's if they announce them at next year's E3.

The PS3 can make better visuals, but developers have to "bend over sideways" to get such out of their programming. But in all honesty, I care less about visuals these days as I care about ease of development. I'll take Lost Odyssey over Final Fantasy XIII any day!

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